Judge gives church mixed message after member deaths

I came across this headline across the top of page 13A of the Sunday, April 22, 1973, edition of the Express/News (I had to cut it in two for easier viewing):

It seems that “two members of the Little Holiness Church of God in Jesus Name died after drinking strychnine April 8.” And they weren’t just any members. They were the assistant pastor and the brother of the pastor, Rev. Liston Pack, who said the men drank it “after they had been anointed with the Holy Ghost.”

The church also handled poisonous snakes as part of its rituals.

District Attorney Henry Swann had asked the court “for a ban on the snake-handling and the drinking of strychnine” after the deaths.

Circuit Judge George Shepherd “issued an injunction forbidding the snake-handling” because doing so at a religious service was a misdemeanor with a punishment of a $50-150 fine and six month jail term.

However, the judge also said, “if someone wants to commit suicide by drinking poison, the court is not going to interfere as long as he does not offer the poison to anyone else.” The snake-handling, on the other hand, endangered other people.

Rev. Pack represented himself in court, and said that while they would still bring snakes to services, he would not say what would be done with them. “We believe in handling serpents as part of our religion,” he said, “We cannot turn back now.”